RIPLEY — Members of the Ripley Town Board approved a resolution to introduce the revised solar law at their regular meeting May 13.

Attorney Ben Wisniewski presented the revised solar law and explained the changes that have been made. He told board members that the town received several public comments regarding the proposed local law.

“I reviewed them, then recommended some changes to the Solar Law,” he said.

Wisniewski also said that changes in New York state law were taken into account with the revised solar law. “The state is now setting the assessment methodology,” he said.

Wisniewski drew attention to two additions to the purpose of the solar law: to protect existing community resources and to advance the state’s renewable energy policy.

Wisniewski told board members that the term Community Solar Project has been added to the revised law. He said this includes an expanded definition of “Community Solar,” which increases the area from 15 acres to 30 acres.

“We’re basically adopting the state standard,” he said.

Another clarification, Wisniewski said, is the definition of facility area. This is more than just the solar panel area, but includes such things as fencing, roads and visible screens, he said.

The new law also clarifies the definition of the project site, which includes the facility area, as well as buffers and everything else.

The law also includes specifics on anti-reflective coatings on the solar panels. All panels are required to have this coating; however, “We’ve incorporated the federal definition of what a hazardous material is,” Wisniewski said. The coatings may not contain hazardous materials.

The law also stipulates that vehicular paths must be sufficiently wide for two emergency vehicles to pass one another without either going off the road.

Wisniewski told board members that under the new law, all lands that are parrt of the facility shall have set-backs applied. Regarding limits on increase in noise, Wisniewski said the noise level created by the solar field must not exceed existing background ambient noise by more than 6 decibels.

“I don’t think any of the changes are substantive,” he said. “They’re just clarifying language.”

See SOLAR, Page A6

From Page A5

In related business, Wisniewski reminded board members that a couple of weeks ago, he, Supervisor Doug Bowen and deputy Supervisor Mike Rowe met with representatives of ConnectGen in Rochester to discuss the solar project. This was a required pre-application municipal meeting, he said.

Wisniewski said that Bowen asked ConnectGen to meet with the Ripley Fire Department to address the department’s concerns about the project. The meeting has not yet taken place. He said the town also asked for an updated facility map from ConnectGen.

The next steps will include an application, public hearings, additional steps for the State Environmental Quality Review, and the town beginning talks with the developer and negotiating an agreement, Wisniewski said. He stressed the necessity of the town being proactive in these matters.